Broadcast receiver and method of providing preferred channel thereof

1. A method of providing a preferred channel in a broadcast receiver, comprising: receiving a program of the preferred channel set by a user among a plurality of broadcast channels; transforming an image of the received program of the preferred channel into a reduced image; storing the reduced image per the preferred channel; when receiving a request for switching to a turn-off mode disabling a user to view a program, displaying the stored reduced image; identifying whether a request for selecting the displayed image is received within a preset amount of time; when the request for selecting the displayed image is received within the preset amount of time, displaying program information corresponding to the selected image; and when the request for selecting the displayed image is not received within the preset amount of time, cutting off power to a display panel, wherein a plurality of reduced images are displayed on a main screen in response to the request for switching to a turn-off mode, a program information corresponding to a selected reduced image is displayed when one of the plurality of reduced images is selected, and the program information at least partially overlaps all of the plurality of reduced images displayed on the main screen, wherein the plurality of reduced images overlap a center region of a main screen, and the program information overlaps a center region of a field including the reduced images.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the displaying the stored reduced image comprises displaying the stored reduced image per the preferred channel.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein when the user makes a request for a display of the preferred channel, the stored reduced image is displayed.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein when the broadcast receiver having at least two tuners is in the turn-on mode, the program of the preferred channel and a program currently displayed are received via the at least two tuners, respectively, and wherein, when the broadcast receiver is in the turn-off mode, the program of the preferred channel is received via one of the at least two tuners.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein a plurality of the reduced images respectively corresponding to a plurality of the preferred channels are sequentially displayed one by one.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein a plurality of the reduced images respectively corresponding to a plurality of the preferred channels are sequentially and simultaneously displayed two by two at least.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein a number of the reduced images to be simultaneously displayed is decided in advance.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein a plurality of the reduced images corresponding to the preferred channel are sequentially displayed by First Record First Display (FRFD) for a predetermined period.

9. The method of claim 2 , wherein the reduced image is displayed in order of a preference priority of the preferred channel set by the user.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein a size of the reduced image is decided in advance.

11. The method of claim 1 , the method is carried out while the broadcast receiver is in a warm standby mode.

12. A method of providing a preferred channel in a broadcast receiver, comprising: receiving a program of the preferred channel among a plurality of broadcast channels; transforming an image of the received program of the preferred channel into a reduced image, extracting program information for the preferred channel from additional data included in the received program of the preferred channel; storing the reduced image and the extracted program information per the preferred channel; when receiving a request for switching to a turn-off mode disabling a user to view a program, displaying the stored reduced image per the preferred channel; identifying whether a request for selecting the displayed image is received within a preset amount of time; when the request for selecting the displayed image is received within the preset amount of time, displaying the extracted program information for the preferred channel corresponding to the selected image; and when the request for selecting the displayed image is not received within the preset amount of time, cutting off power to a display panel, wherein a plurality of reduced images are displayed on a main screen in response to the request for switching to a turn-off mode, a program information corresponding to a selected reduced image is displayed when one of the plurality of reduced images is selected, and the program information for the selected reduced image at least partially overlaps all of the plurality of reduced images displayed on the main screen, wherein the plurality of reduced images overlap a center region of a main screen, and the program information overlaps a center region of a field including the reduced images.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the selected reduced image is displayed by being discriminated from other reduced images.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein when the user confirms the selected reduced image, the program of the preferred channel corresponding to the reduced image confirmed by the user is displayed.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein when the user makes a request for a display of the preferred channel, the stored reduced image is displayed.

16. A broadcast receiver, which performs a preferred channel providing method, the broadcast receiver comprising: at least one main tuner receiving a program currently displayed; at least one sub-tuner receiving a program of a preferred channel in response to a tuning control signal; and a central processing unit generating the tuning control signal according to the preferred channel among a plurality of broadcast channels, the central processing unit transforming an image of the received program of the preferred channel into a reduced image, controlling display of the stored reduced image when receiving a request for switching to a turn-off mode disabling a user to view a program, identifying whether a request for selecting the displayed image is received within a preset amount of time, controlling display of program information corresponding to the selected image when the request for selecting the displayed image is received within the preset amount of time, and cutting off power to a display panel when the request for selecting the displayed image is not received within the preset amount of time, wherein a plurality of reduced images are displayed on a main screen in response to the request for switching to a turn-off mode, a program information corresponding to a selected reduced image is displayed when one of the plurality of reduced images is selected, and the program information at least partially overlaps all of the plurality of reduced images displayed on the main screen, wherein the plurality of reduced images overlap a center region of a main screen, and the program information overlaps a center region of a field including the reduced images.

17. The broadcast receiver of claim 16 , further comprising a display unit displaying the reduced image under a control of the central processing unit.

18. The broadcast receiver of claim 17 , further comprising a user interface unit having a number of the preferred channel set by the user, the user interface unit outputting the number of the preferred channel to the central processing unit.

19. The broadcast receiver of claim 18 , wherein the user interface unit generates a preferred channel providing request signal by receiving a request for a display of the preferred channel, a request for a switching to the turn-off mode of the broadcast receiver from the turn-on mode of the broadcast receiver, or a request for the switching to the turn-on mode of the broadcast receiver from the turn-off mode of the broadcast receiver from the user and the central processing unit controls display of the reduced image per the preferred channel on the display unit in response to the preferred channel providing request signal.

20. The broadcast receiver of claim 16 , wherein while the broadcast receiver is in a warm standby mode, at least one of the main tuner and the sub-tuner receives the program of the preferred channel under a control of the central processing unit and wherein the central processing unit transforms the image of the received program of the preferred channel into the reduced image.

21. The broadcast receiver of claim 16 , the central processing unit comprising: an image capture unit capturing the image of the program of the preferred channel for each preset time interval; a control unit transforming the image captured by the image capture unit into the reduced image, the control unit generating the tuning control signal; and a personal video recorder (PVR) unit storing the reduced image per the preferred channel.

22. The broadcast receiver of claim 16 , the central processing unit comprising: an image capture unit capturing the image of the program of the preferred channel for each preset time interval; a control unit generating the tuning control signal; and a personal video recorder (PVR) unit transforming the image captured by the image capture unit into the reduced image, the personal video recorder (PVR) unit storing the reduced image per the preferred channel.

23. A broadcast receiver, which performs a preferred channel providing method, the broadcast receiver comprising: at least one main tuner receiving a program currently viewed by a user; at least one sub-tuner receiving a program of a preferred channel in response to a tuning control signal; a central processing unit generating the tuning control signal according to a number of the preferred channel set by the user among a plurality of broadcast channels, the central processing unit transforming an image of the received program of the preferred channel into a reduced image, the central processing unit extracting program information for the preferred channel from additional data included in the received program of the preferred channel; a display unit displaying the reduced image under a control of the central processing unit; and a user interface unit having a number of the preferred channel set by the user, the user interface unit outputting the number of the preferred channel to the central processing unit, wherein the central processing unit controls display of the stored reduced images when receiving a request for switching to a turn-off mode disabling a user to view a program, identifies whether a request for selecting the displayed image is received within a preset amount of time, controls display of program information corresponding to the selected image when the request for selecting the displayed image is received within the preset amount of time, and cuts off power to a display panel when the request for selecting the displayed image is not received within the preset amount of time, wherein a plurality of reduced images are displayed on a main screen in response to the request for switching to a turn-off mode, a program information corresponding to a selected reduced image is displayed when one of the plurality of reduced images is selected, and the program information for the selected reduced image at least partially overlaps all of the plurality of reduced images displayed on the main screen, wherein the plurality of reduced images overlap a center region of a main screen, and the program information overlaps a center region of a field including the reduced images.

24. The broadcast receiver of claim 23 , wherein the user interface unit has one of the displayed reduced images selected by the user and then generates a preferred channel selection signal indicating the selected reduced image and wherein the central processing unit controls display of the program information for the preferred channel corresponding to the selected reduced image via the display unit in response to the preferred channel selection signal.

25. The broadcast receiver of claim 24 , wherein the user interface unit has the selected reduced image confirmed by the user and then generates a preferred channel confirmation signal indicating the confirmed reduced image and wherein the central processing unit controls the main tuner to receive the program of the preferred channel corresponding to the confirmed reduced image in response to the preferred channel confirmation signal.

26. The broadcast receiver of claim 23 , wherein the central processing unit controls at least one of the reduced image, the number of the preferred channel, and the program information to be stored per the preferred channel.

27. The broadcast receiver of claim 23 , further comprising a memory storing at least one of the reduced image, the number of the preferred channel, and the program information received from the central processing unit per the preferred channel.

28. The broadcast receiver of claim 23 , further comprising a storage unit storing at least one of the reduced image, the number of the preferred channel, and the program information received from the central processing unit per the preferred channel.

29. The broadcast receiver of claim 23 , wherein the user interface unit generates a preferred channel providing request signal by receiving a request for a display of the preferred channel, a request for a switching to the turn-off mode of the broadcast receiver from the turn-on mode of the broadcast receiver, or a request for the switching to the turn-on mode of the broadcast receiver from the turn-off mode of the broadcast receiver from the user and the central processing unit controls display of the reduced image per the preferred channel on the display unit in response to the preferred channel providing request signal.

30. The method of claim 1 , wherein a size of the displayed reduced image is based on a number of reduced images to be simultaneously displayed.

31. A method of providing a preferred channel in the broadcast receiver, comprising: receiving a program of the preferred channel set by a user among a plurality of broadcast channels; transforming an image of the received program of the preferred channel into a reduced image; storing the reduced image per the preferred channel; when receiving a request for switching to a turn-on mode of the broadcast receiver from a turn-off mode of the broadcast receiver, displaying the stored reduced image; and identifying whether a request for selecting the displayed reduced image is received within a preset amount of time, and displaying the program of the preferred channel corresponding to the selected reduced image when the request is received within the preset amount of time, wherein a plurality of reduced images are displayed on a main screen in response to the request for switching to a turn-off mode, a program information corresponding to a selected reduced image is displayed when one of the plurality of reduced images is selected, and the program information at least partially overlaps all of the plurality of reduced images displayed on the main screen, wherein the plurality of reduced images overlap a center region of a main screen, and the program information overlaps a center region of a field including the reduced images.

32. The method of claim 31 , wherein a size of the displayed reduced image is based on a number of reduced images to be simultaneously displayed.

33. The method of claim 1 , wherein the program information partially overlaps each of the plurality of reduced images at the center region of the field including the reduced images such that at least a portion of each of the reduced images is visible.